Lovely Intricacies
by Maxride268
Summary: A Humanstuck AU. This section of the story takes place when the Beta Kids and trolls are in Middle school. I plan to have it continue far into the future, this is just a start. I may create a Tumblr blog for the AU with little comics and an askbox, so stay tuned for that. For now, enjoy! On the title change: I felt that "Intricacies" fits better. Hope you agree!
1. Chapter 1

_**Beep! Beep! Beep! Beep!**_

Kevin Vantas woke up with a start as his alarm clock blared from across the room. He groaned and rubbed his reddish-pink eyes blearily, attempting to roll over and sink back underneath the cozy covers.

_**Beep! Beep! Beep!**_

_Aw hell. _The albino boy groaned as he sat up, reluctantly pushing back the soft blankets and flinching as the cold air rushed in and assaulted his pale skin.

_**Beep! Beep! Beep!**_

Sighing, Kevin stood up and stretched, yawning and rubbing the back of one hand across his face. He stumbled across his room and hit the switch on the offending clock. Blinking, he took a moment to adjust himself to being awake, and then turned to the window and pulled up the shade, throwing open the sash and breathing deeply the fresh morning air. The sun shone brightly, and on the balcony across the alleyway he could see a few pigeons pecking around for crumbs. It was a great day for the first day of Middle School.

As Kevin walked barefoot to the kitchen of the small apartment to help himself to some cereal, he noticed that he actually felt rather refreshed. And he was up at 6:15 A.M! _Maybe Karl's idea wasn't so bad after all, _he admitted to himself. Putting the alarm clock across the room to force himself to get up had been his older brother's idea. Originally, he had scoffed at the idea, but eventually agreed to it if only to get the 15-year-old to shut up. Now, he realized that it may have actually worked. As he entered the kitchen, the two previous occupants looked up.

"Good morning Kevin." said his adoptive sister from the counter, already pouring Captain Crunch into a bowl. "You're up earlier than usual."

"Yeah, well, we all are, Kanaya. You usually don't get up until 7 at least" he grumbled, grabbing a bowl from the cabinet.

"I see that you haven't become less grumpy then. Not all things change." the dark-skinned girl said with a hint of laughter, pouring milk carefully into the ceramic bowl and adding a spoon. "Either way, are you excited for our first day of school?" she inquired as she carried the breakfast to the table. Kevin placed his bowl on the counter and began to fix his cereal.

"Yeah, I guess." He paused, as if about to say something else, but didn't. Kanaya, as always, picked up on this, but didn't press further. The other occupant of the kitchen chose this moment to speak up from across the table.

"I don't know why you two continue to choose to eat that stuff. It's incredibly unhealthy for you. In fact, half of the ingredients in the cereal you are eating aren't even real food. It's all just sugar and preservatives. You are essentially pumping your young bodies full of chemicals and stunting your growth and hormone development. I have opted for a healthy bowl of non-sweetened oatmeal with a glass of orange juice with pulp. It's so much healthier, and will give you an energized start to the day. Besides, you need a healthy breakfast with all the horrible stuff they serve at the school lunch. Unless of course, you pack your lunch. That's always a good option. In fact, maybe you could let me pack you one. I'll add a nice ham sandwich for your protein, but not with American Cheese of course. That's even worse than the so-called 'breakfast' you are eating! In fact-"

"Oh, stop it Karl. They're anxious enough about their first day of Middle School without you ranting at them for an hour." Kanaya's sister, Paris, entered the kitchen with a soft grace, effectively shutting the other boy up, if only temporarily. She opened the fridge and grabbed an orange, peeling it while leaning against the counter.

"Kevin, why don't we go get ready for school. I'm done with my breakfast, and it looks like you are as well" said Kanaya, standing up to place her bowl in the sink. Kevin nodded and followed suit, and the two 12-year-olds scurried off to their respective rooms. Paris laughed softly as Karl sulked at the table, finishing his oatmeal.

"You didn't even let me tell them about how the packaging is ruining the environment." he said softly as he glowered at the table. "Do you know how important that is, Paris?"

"Karl, I've heard your spiel about a hundred times, as have they. Besides-" the tall girl threw her orange peel in the trash can and began to exit the kitchen, pausing to ruffle Karl's hair. "Not everyone is as conscientious as you."


	2. Chapter 2

Kevin opened his closet, surveying the options of clothing for a few minutes. After all, it was the first day of school, and he wanted to make a good impression. Or, at the very least, an impression, if not a good one. After a few minutes, he opened his drawers and pulled out a pair of black skinny jeans, a black pair of socks, a black and white Pierce the Veil T-Shirt, and.. Sighing, he shook his head and grabbed his lucky red boxers. _Old habits die hard._

A few minutes later, he stepped to the mirror on his wall, running his hands experimentally through his snow-white hair. It was an absolute mess. One half was flattened to the side of his head with static, and the other side was a curly mess. He looked at his dresser, contemplating. After a few minutes of thought, he grabbed the things he had begged Rosa to buy him just a week before. Hair products. He was about to start taming the mess, but he stopped.

_I have absolutely no clue how to use any of this shit. _Sighing, Kevin abandoned the mirror and stepped across the hall.

"Kanaya?" he called, knocking on the plain bedroom door. Soft footsteps approached the other side of the door, and it was opened from inside. Kanaya stood there, perfectly dressed and ready with impeccable appearance as always.

"Yes?" she looked at him with an air of expectance. "What do you need?" Kevin looked down uncomfortably and shifted his feet.

"Um." Before he could get any farther, his sister smirked and laughed slightly.

"You need help with all of that stuff you bought last week don't you?" she said. Before he could answer, she brushed past him into his room and regarded the assorted hair products and tools on the dresser. "Okay, first we need to actually brush out your hair." She picked up the brush and swiped it roughly through the short white tangles as Kevin stood there grumpily. Ironically, at only 5'2" to Kanaya's 5'4", he was the perfect height for her to do his hair. After the tangles were dispelled, Kevin felt a strange tingling sensation on his scalp. He gave his sister a confused look as she struggled not to laugh.

"What?! What is it? What the hell did you do!" he shouted, becoming increasingly distressed. Kanaya giggled.

"Oh, nothing, don't worry" she said, but burst out laughing at the end of the sentence. Angry, the short boy pushed past her to the mirror only to stop short in shock.

His hair had been charged out with static electricity until every single hair was standing on end. At the moment, he looked like an angry, poofy, albino, porcupine. Kevin opened his mouth and let out a strangled cry as Kanaya struggled to regain her composure from behind him.

"S-sorry" she managed to gasp out, still giggling. "We can fix it, don't worry." Shaking her head, she grabbed a bottle from the dresser. "This is Mousse, it'll take the static away and make your hair softer." She squirted a small amount of the product onto her hand and rubbed it through her brother's hair. After the static had been dispelled, she regarded the other products on the dresser. "Now you will probably want to straighten it, right?" Kevin nodded, his head of hair was still a curly mess although the tangles and static had gone. Kanaya grabbed the straightener and plugged it into an outlet nearby. "Once it heats up, you can use it. It should only take a few seconds." Sure enough, the tool was ready shortly. The tall girl picked it up and began showing Kevin how to use it on his hair. After a few minutes, the curls were gone, and in their place was soft hair that fell neatly over one of Kevin's reddish eyes. He experimentally touched it a few times, nodding at his own reflection in the mirror.

"Okay, so now what? We haven't touched-" he looked at the various bottles in front of him and pointed at a black bottle with a spray nozzle. "That one." Kanaya nodded and picked it up, twisting the nozzle tip a few times.

"This is hairspray. It will keep the style in place for the day. Cover your eyes." The boy complied, and Kanaya sprayed the product over his hair. "There we are. You look good! Now finish getting ready, we will most likely have to leave soon." She put away the hair supplies that had been used, and began to exit the room.

"Wait, Kanaya.." Kevin called from where he stood, and the girl turned around to face her brother.

"Yes, Kevin? I know there's been something on your mind. What is it?" she reentered the room and sat on the edge of his bed, patting the blanket beside her. Kevin joined her.

"Well, it's just that…" He paused, not entirely sure how to say what he wanted to. "I-" his voice caught in his throat and he bit his lip, looking down.

Kanaya regarded her brother. This wasn't a side of him he showed very often. "You're scared, aren't you." It wasn't a question, and Kevin took a breath and nodded.

"A little. I mean, in Elementary School, everybody pretty much got along. It's just… I don't know how people are going to react. Like, to how I look." He bit his lip and looked at his sister. "I want to be able to make friends. What if I scare people away?"

"Kevin." Kanaya spoke in her no-nonsense voice. "You aren't going to scare anyone away. And if anyone judges you by how you look, they aren't the kind of people you want to be friends with anyway." She wrapped her arms around the smaller boy and hugged him close to her. "And besides, even if something bad happens, you have close friends already. You have Gerard, and Rezi, and of course Paris and Kankri will always look out for you." She closed her eyes and lowered her voice slightly to a soft whisper.

"And no matter what, you will always have me."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I honestly hated writing this chapter, and that's part of the reason it took so long to update. (The other reason being I only had it saved in one place and I had no access to that laptop for a while, whoops.) The only reason I wrote this chapter at all was to provide important background information on Gerard that I couldn't fit in any other way. So if this chapter sucks, it's because I didn't put much effort into it. Sorry about that. However, there will be good chapters coming **_**Very Soon!**_** I have written both chapters 4 and 5 in their entirety, I only need to edit and upload them, so that will happen extremely soon I promise! Also, I am now officially out of school for the summer, so I will have more freedom and motivation to write! I want to update way more often in the next few months, and I'm writing stuff for my other fics too! So stay tuned! (Also I'm extremely sorry for wasting your time on this long ass note). Enjoy the chapter (or don't). ~Maxey Out B)**

"Kevin." The boy looked up as his sister nudged him with her elbow, directing his eyes at her face rather than at the pabvement he was currently walking on.

"Huh?" Kanaya nodded across the street, pointing.

"Is that Gerard? I thought he took a different route to school now." Kevin looked over, following her finger with his gaze. A tall skinny boy was standing across the street, slouched over. He had wild black hair and appeared to be wearing pajama pants.

"I think it is! That's odd…" Kevin peered harder across the street and then called out. "Gerard! Hey! Over here!" At this moment, the older kids stopped walking and turned around. Karl let out a huff of air and crossed his arms, about to go off on some sort of tirade about 'you know how important it is to be prompt to school we don't have time for this'. Paris sighed, sensing this, and shot Karl a pointed look. He bit his lip and dramatically rolled his eyes, but stayed silent.

The dark haired boy across the street looked up at the voices calling his name. Upon seeing Kevin and Kanaya, he broke into a lazy grin and waved. "Motherfuckin miracles man!" he called to the two kids on the other side of the street. Kevin looked around for a crosswalk, and locating one, he quickly crossed the street, pulling Kanaya behind him. Karl was looking increasingly pissed off.

Upon reaching Gerard, Kevin grabbed him roughly by the shoulders, his eyes wide with concern. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked breathlessly, and received an elbow in the back for his efforts.

"Language." The small boy sighed and rolled his eyes at his sister's reminder, and turned _back towards his friend, looking for an answer._

"Bro calm down it's not a motherfuckin emergency yo. I was just all up in the neighborhood and thought I might swing around to find you crazy dudes." Kanaya refrained from correcting the taller boy's wording, sighing ever so slightly and shifting on the spot.

"Gerard! Why were you in the neighborhood? You should be on your way to school! You live practically on the other side of the school district!" the words tumbled out of Kevin's mouth as he gripped his best friend tighter. "How did you get here on your own? And wait, is that makeup? What is going on? It's only been a week since I saw you last! Are you okay?" Gerard was, indeed, wearing makeup. His lips had been coated black and his eyes were blanketed in a heavy layer of black eyeliner. Combined with his bony face, it gave him a hollow look, which worked out to be extremely off-putting.

"Bro, it's motherfuckin chill I swear. I left the house early today, and the fates blew me all the motherfuckin way over here. It's a miracle dude!" Kevin furrowed his eyes with concern and poked at the other boy's face, wiping slightly at the makeup in confusion. Gerard endured the poking for a few seconds, letting the shorter boy squish his face with multiple fingers as he contemplated this new development. "Oh dude the makeup? It's for the juggalos! My bro finally decided he could let me wear a minimum amount. It's the motherfuckin shit!" Kanaya bit her lip once more at the excessive swearing, and Kevin shook his head slightly at the news.

_Really? The Juggalos again? I know it's like a family tradition, but… people have been killed._

"I hope you're careful with that. Especially if you walked all the way over here. There's so many people out to get the juggalos, you're an easy target. Any number of people could have attacked you." He muttered, a hint of agitation in his voice. Kanaya shot him a wary look. Gerard picked up on this and took the opportunity to use Kevin's head as an armrest.

"No need to up and all worry my main bro, I've got it all under motherfuckin control. It's not like I'm helpless man." Kevin sighed, knowing this was true. Gerard had taken countless martial arts classes, and was at this time a Black Belt in 14 different styles of Karate, and a Master in 3. Despite how skinny he looked, he was really quite strong, and extremely agile. He had tried to get Kevin into it as well a few years back, but Karl had convinced Rosa not to let him, under the grounds that it was "too dangerous." Truth be told, Kevin wasn't very disappointed.

Back to the issue at hand. "Well, okay. But don't wander around like that. We'll be late for school.

_I sound exactly like Karl. _As this realization hit him, Kevin winced, knowing it was only a matter of seconds before his older brother did say something. Sure enough, the irritated voice called across the street almost as soon as he had finished the thought.

"Get back over here! I'm supposed to make sure both of you get to school safely and promptly, regardless of whether your friend tags along or not. So if he's coming he'd better hurry up, we need to catch the Subway and it leaves in ten minutes!" The agitation in the 16-year-old's voice was evident.

Taking this as an opportunity, Kevin reached up to lift Gerard's arm off of his head. "We really should get going." Addressing the taller boy, he added "Are you going to come with us? You might as well, you're in the neighborhood anyway." Gerard grinned and elbowed his friend.

"Of course my man! Let's go!"

With that, the three of them crossed the street to join the two older students, all five of them hurrying off towards the Subway.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapter! I do like how this one came out though, and next chapter will be a bit longer. Until then, enjoy these dorky pre-teens experiencing middle school for the first time ever. ~Maxey Out.**

Utter. Chaos.

That's what the inside of the P.S. 13 was like. As soon as the trio of sixth graders stepped through the grimy, greenish double doors, they were greeted with a cacophony of noises. Lockers slamming, feet running, and no less than five paper airplanes were zipping through the hallway. Kevin felt something damp and squishy hit his cheek, and he winced, flicking it away. A piece of wadded-up paper fell to the linoleum tiles. _Spitball. Eyyucgh. _ The white-haired boy shivered in disgust and rubbed vigorously at his cheek with the back of his hand.

Kanaya touched his elbow, and he looked over, still attempting to dispel whatever vile germs had nested on his skin. The tall girl was addressing him, along with Gerard.

"We all have the same homeroom, correct? Ms. Paint?" The boys nodded. The three of them, plus Rezi, had compared homerooms when they received their schedules in the mail. _Speaking of Rezi…_

"Where is she, anyway?" at the confused glance Kevin received, it became clear that the others had not followed his train of thought. "Rezi. Isn't her homeroom right next to ours? We could head there together." He looked at Kanaya hopefully. Rezi was his best friend after all, second maybe to Gerard. He couldn't exactly leave her to find her homeroom all by her lonesome! He was only trying to do the right thing, and any gentleman would do the same.

Kanaya, however, seemed to stick to her own form of logic. She shook her head, giving Kevin a look that brought him sinking sadly down to reality. "It would be impossible to find her before the bell rings. We should just head to class." Kevin nodded, the disappointment evident in his eyes, and the trio began to head off down the hallway.

"Hey, no hard feelings man. You'll get to see her at lunch. I know she's important to ya, but we can't very well be late for class on the first motherfuckin day, am I right man?" Kevin nodded slowly at the words of comfort from his friend, and the three of them continued walking in silence.

After a few moments, that silence was broken.

"Yo… do any of you motherfuckers, like, know how to get there?"


	5. Chapter 5

Dave placed his tray down with a soft clunk on the round, bluish-grayish table, sitting between the two girls already dining there. The blonde, who looked remarkably similar to him, glanced over as he settled down.

'How are you doing?" she inquired in the soft voice she reserved for only her twin brother. Dave stared blankly at his lunch tray, spending several minutes picking at his food and trying to discern what on earth the glop he had been served could possibly be. After what seemed like an eternity, he stopped, biting the inside of his cheek before responding cautiously.

"…Okay, I guess." He spoke extremely softly, not taking his eyes from the lunch tray in front of him, as if he was trying to bore a hole in the mystery meat. Any attempts from either girl to meet his gaze were fruitless. Rose furrowed her brow with concern.

"Just okay?" before the words even left her mouth, she knew the answer to her question, and continued without even pausing. "What's wrong, Dave?" She leaned close to her brother, trying to coerce him into looking at her.

Dave bit his lip and clenched his hands into tight fists, shuffling his feet anxiously before plunging into his rushed speech. As he spoke, the words tumbled from his mouth seemingly without any control. "The teachers were okay. They didn't know me. Like before. So they didn't know… that there's anything different now. They didn't know there was anything else to call me. It was okay." Here, he paused and sucked in a breath, shaking. Before he could catch himself, his voice cracked into a half sob, and more words squeaked out in a rush. "The other kids, they…" He stopped and lifted a trembling hand to his eyes, angrily wiping the intruding tears from his eyes in a last-ditch attempt to remain strong. Shaking, he took a breath and forced out the last sentence. "They still call me Daisy."

At this, all façade of strength fell apart, and Dave crumpled into himself, burying his face in his hands. From within curled up boy came quiet, shuddering sobs. Instantly, both girls embraced him.

From his left, the Hawaiian girl spoke up in a melodic voice.

"Just ignore them, Dave. They don't understand. They'll get used to it eventually, and if they don't, hey, it's their loss. They're missing out on knowing an amazing guy."

Dave felt his mouth twitch into something that might resemble a smile, and he struggled to regain control of his lungs and subdue the reckless sobbing that wracked his body. Drawing in a shuddering breath, he wiped both eyes with the palms of his hands.

"Thanks, Jade…" he gulped, slowly calming down and feeling his mood lift ever so slightly. "You know, you're right. They aren't worth it anyway." He took a few deep breaths, trying to clear away the desperate sobs, and continued. "You guys are all I need." He smiled bravely and hugged both girls, trying and failing to keep the tears inside of his eyes as he started crying for the second time in the last ten minutes.

Just then, John skipped cheerfully up to the table, sliding into the seat with a dreamy grin on his face and completely oblivious of any sort of heartfelt moment occurring between his friends. Sighing happily, he placed his head in his hands and turned to face his friends and announce his news.

"I'm in love!"


	6. Chapter 6

Dave looked across the lunchroom at the girl his best friend had been talking about for fifteen straight minutes. She was sitting at a round table near the front of the room, with a few other kids. Although there were a couple girls at the table, Dave could tell exactly who John was talking about. She was laughing at something another of the table's occupants had said, giggling uncontrollably with her hands up over her mouth, almost hunched over. She had sort of a dark strawberry blond hair, which seemed to change from bright orange to blonde to light brown as the light hit the strands at different angles. She was extremely pretty. Dave thought he had seen her before, possibly in the hallways or in one of his classes, but he wasn't sure. She couldn't have gone to his elementary school. When the teacher called his name for roll call, she hadn't been one of the students who laughed at him or gave him hostile or confused looks. Yes, he was certain of it now. She was in his English class, sitting in the row ahead of him, several seats away. She certainly was pretty, and seemed… nice, for lack of a better word. Although he knew John had known her for the same amount of time he had (amounting to maybe a few hours total), the dark-haired boy had been blabbering on and on, seeming to find unlimited synonyms for "nice" and "pretty". Turning his gaze away from the object of conversation, he looked back at his friend and listened to what he was saying.

"and she looked at me! In art class! The teacher called my name and she looked straight at me! Her eyes, they're like golden fire! And emerald! They're green and gold and perfect! I…"

Dave tuned out again. John had been talking for almost twenty minutes now, and he was still saying the same thing. However, he was glad the attention had been turned away from him, at least temporarily. _Good old John, always reliable_. The girls were listening intently, or at least pretending to. Dave glanced at his schedule. Lunch only lasted for 31 minutes, meaning…

_**Ding! Ding! Ding!**_

__At this signal, the lunchroom surged to life. Everybody stood up at once, and the sound of backpacks thudding and lunch trays clacking filled the room. Dave lifted his simple backpack, a red and black canvas bag with black shoulder straps, and lifted his tray off of the lunch table, weaving his way through the mob to reach the trash can and dump what was left of his food out. There wasn't much, he had mostly eaten while pretending to listen to John gush.

"Dave! Wait up!"

The dark-haired boy ran across the quickly emptying room to join Dave. He reached him, holding his bright blue bag over one shoulder and breathing just slightly harder than normal. "Come on Dave! We have to get to Math!"

Dave groaned, louder than he probably should have. _Math. I almost forgot. _He sighed heavily and nodded, walking towards the cafeteria doors, knowing that John would follow. "Right. Math. Let's get this over with."


End file.
